Actuating or ‘smart’ materials address the increasing needs of creating engineered material systems that provide diverse features relating to mechanical actuation, sensor abilities and artificial intelligence integration among others. Typically, these types of actuating materials are biologically inspired materials that integrate biological concepts and features in their structure and microstructure in order to create controllable and adaptive functionality of the material systems in which they are integrated. Furthermore, actuating materials rely on converting an input energy into a type of mechanical output such as force or displacement. As a result, they require the use of a prime mover (e.g., fluid, electromagnetic force etc.) and mechanisms to convert the functions of the prime mover to the desired effect. However, conventional actuating materials are inefficient. For example, the use of fluids in actuating materials requires hydraulic systems in order to provide adaptive control. Such hydraulic systems require the use of electric motors to power them and may also be prone to faults and defects. As a result, this may require several components that are not easily manufactured and that impair the ability to miniaturize the actuating system. Further, these components are not easily created with 3D printing.